


all her illusions left long ago

by mollivanders



Category: Skins (UK)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, On the Run
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-30
Updated: 2012-01-30
Packaged: 2017-10-30 10:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/330838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mollivanders/pseuds/mollivanders
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone else has left Bristol but her (her and Cook) and Effy lets herself slide in to old patterns with new people, learn in ways her friends can only dream of.</p><p>Effy’s life is the stuff of nightmares (always has been).</p>
            </blockquote>





	all her illusions left long ago

**Author's Note:**

> **Title: all her illusions left long ago**  
>  Fandom: Skins  
> Rating: PG  
> Characters: Cook/Effy  
> Author's Note: For stainofmylove. Word Count - 636. Spoilers through S4. Prompt was _No blinding light or tunnels to gates of white, just our hands clasped so tight, waiting for the hint of the spark_. A slightly different take on post-S4.  
>  Disclaimer: I own nothing.

She swears (still) that she doesn’t love him.

Doesn’t see him around much, these days. Everyone else has left Bristol but her (her and Cook) and Effy lets herself slide in to old patterns with new people, learn in ways her friends can only dream of.

Effy’s life is the stuff of nightmares (always has been).

But sometimes, he’s there at the club where she is and she lets the crowd push her in his direction, casual as ever. She doesn’t belong to him, doesn’t belong to anyone, and asks him what he’s doing here.

“Came to see you, love,” he says, exhaling smoke and she closes her eyes, wafts in it and drifts closer to him – catches herself on her fingertips, pushes away from him ever so slightly and meets his eyes again.

“Tell me you didn’t kill him,” she demands, waits while Cook takes another long breath.

“I’m innocent, princess,” he repeats and she turns, but takes his hand and drags him on the dance floor, tries to forget Cook was ever anyone but James and Effy was anyone other than Elizabeth.

(He’s gone, in the morning, but she knows he’ll be back.)

It doesn’t take her long to find another would-be man to save her, pushing thirty and with a savior complex to boot. Effy stays with him when her mum kicks her out, finally hopeless, and when he falls asleep snoring she slips out to the window and her eyes beat against the darkness.

Wonders where he is.

Cook finds her at a playground swingset one day, like it’s a normal meeting place for them, like there’s anything normal between them, and just sits on the swing next to her, watches her while they drift back and forth across the sand.

“You alright then?” he asks and Effy burns inside, wants to hate him because with everyone else, she can feel dead inside and then maybe the pain would just take over, finally have its way with her, and she’d be done.

But Cook just won’t let her die.

“Tell me you didn’t kill him,” she whispers, looking down at the sand, and when she stretches her legs out to swing, her arm bumps against Cook’s.

“I’m innocent, princess,” he repeats.

(Follows her beat for beat in to the sky until it’s dark.)

Effy doesn’t count the time anymore, doesn’t see the point. She’s not a princess, she has no future, and she has nobody left (she swears). When the latest chump tries to hit her, she smashes his head over with a bottle and rushes panting in to the night with no shoes, stumbles her way to a stone building when it starts to rain.

“Effy,” he says, next to her in the darkness – is he even real? – “Effy, what’s wrong?”

“Elizabeth,” she says, tilting her face up to his and his face darkens. He stands up, moving to go, before she clutches at his wrist. “We need to get inside,” he says, and she realizes her mistake.

They’re at a church.

He carries her inside all the same, tucks her in to a pew and sits in the aisle, his back to her. She’s still breathing heavily and she can’t see him, and her hand flits out in the darkness.

“Cook,” she says –

“Right here, princess,” he says, catching her hand at an awkward angle, and they hang there like the misfits they are until her heart stops racing.

“Tell me you killed him,” she says, her voice scratchy. She must have been crying. Cook presses his mouth against her hand in an awkward kiss, and she turns to find him in the dim light of electric candles.

“I’m innocent, princess,” he says. Effy crawls down next to him and curls under his arm.

(She swears, she doesn't love him.)

_Finis_


End file.
